Mahony relieved of duties

LOS ANGELES Retired Cardinal Roger Mahony, the former head of the nation's largest Roman Catholic diocese, was stripped of his duties Thursday by his successor as the Los Angeles Archdiocese released thousands of pages of personnel files of priests accused of child molestation.

“I find these files to be brutal and painful reading,” Archbishop Jose Gomez said in a statement, referring to newly released files made public by the church Thursday night, just hours after a judge's order. “The behavior described in these files is terribly sad and evil. There is no excuse, no explaining away what happened to these children.”

Gomez announced that he has “informed Cardinal Mahony that he will no longer have any administrative or public duties.”

The archbishop also said Monsignor Thomas Curry, former vicar of the clergy who was Mahony's point person for dealing with priests accused of molestation, has stepped down from his post as auxiliary bishop in Santa Barbara.

The denouncement of Mahony and Curry was highly unusual and marks a shift from the days when members of the hierarchy emerged largely unscathed for the roles they played in covering up sex abuse, said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit and senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

“It's quite extraordinary. I don't think anything like this has happened before,” Reese said. “It's showing that there are consequences now to mismanaging the sex abuse crisis.”

Others, however, said Gomez's actions, particularly against Mahony, carried little weight as long as he remained a cardinal and a member of the body that elects the pope.

The reprimand is a “purely symbolic punishment that they hope will satisfy at least some people in the archdiocese,” said Terry McKiernan, founder of
BishopAccountability.org, which tracks the release of priest files nationally. “I don't think that many savvy observers of this will be deceived.”

Mahony, who was archbishop of the Los Angeles Archdiocese from 1985 until mandatory retirement at age 75 in 2011, has publicly apologized for mistakes he made in dealing with priests who molested children.

He has had no administrative duties since then, but he will no longer participate in speaking engagements and other public appearances, said archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg.

“He can still perform in the liturgy and Sacraments,” Tamberg said. “He's still considered a priest in good standing.”

Earlier Thursday, Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias ordered the diocese to turn over thousands of pages from the confidential files of priests accused of child molestation without blacking out the names of top church officials who were responsible for handling priests accused of abuse.

The judge gave the archdiocese until Feb. 22 to turn over the files to attorneys for the people who say they were victims, but they were released almost immediately.

The church said that the files' release “concludes a sad and shameful chapter in the history of our local church.”

In one case, involving Ted Llanos – who began as a deacon at St. Barbara Church in Santa Ana – archdiocese officials were clear in their correspondence that they didn't want Llanos prosecuted for allegedly fondling a boy in Long Beach.

“At this point it remains to be seen whether the family will urge the son to press charges – which will almost surely result in a prison term for Fr. Llanos,” the Rev. Timothy Dyer, vicar for the clergy, wrote to Mahony in 1994. “My approach to them will be, while they are free to do whatever they like, we hope to avoid incarceration – as it does not equal rehabilitation.”

The archdiocese, the nation's largest, had planned to black out the names of members of the church hierarchy who were responsible for the priests, and instead provide a cover sheet for each priest's file, listing the names of top officials who handled that case. The church reversed course Wednesday after The Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times and plaintiff attorneys objected in court.

A record $660 million settlement in 2007 with more than 500 people who say they were victims paved the way for the ultimate disclosure of the tens of thousands of pages, but the archdiocese and individual priests fought to keep them secret for more than five years.

A first round of 14 files made public in Los Angeles nearly two weeks ago showed that Mahony and other top officials maneuvered to shield molester priests, provide damage control for the church and keep parishioners in the dark about sexual abuse. The documents, released as part of an unrelated lawsuit, were not redacted and provided a glimpse of what could be in the larger release.

The files, some of them dating back decades, contain letters among top church officials, accused priests and archdiocese attorneys, complaints from parents, medical and psychological records and – in some cases – correspondence with the Vatican.

Similar document releases in other dioceses have shown top church officials shuffled molesting priests from parish to parish, failed to call police and kept parishioners in the dark.

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